Cellular telephone systems operating in a given region comprise a number of base station transceiver subsystems (BTSs) which are capable of receiving signals from, and transmitting signals to, portable telephones in the region. The quality of the service (QoS) provided is an important aspect of the system, and, accordingly, system operators require measurements of the quality of service provided by each of the base stations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,204, to Gulledge, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an automated quality assessment system for cellular networks. The system uses a mobile station, comprising a laptop computer coupled to a station system controller and a cellular telephone, to check the quality of service provided by a base station.
Airlink Communications, Inc., of San Jose, Calif., produces a field diagnostic and measurement tool, called an Airlink CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) Cell Wizard. The tool comprises a laptop computer coupled to a CDPD modem and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, enabling an operator to identify problems at a known position in a network. Ameritec Corporation, of Covina, Calif., produces a problem identification system called SWARM. The system comprises a master unit coupled to a base station, and a number of mobile responders, which are operated remotely by the master unit. Each responder comprises a cellular telephone and controlling circuitry The master unit originates and terminates calls to the responders, and is able to measure audio quality using a multiple-tone testing method. The responders perform network parametric tests, and results are uploaded to the master unit.